Path 2

Path 2

Listings

July 1, 2003

Freed at last: Hollywood producer Arthur Freed gets a tribute that includes the Harvey Girls (see film).photo: courtesy Film Forum/Photofest

ART

‘THE AMERICAN EFFECT’ Finally the Whitney circumvents its constricting mandate with a timely show about global perceptions of America, in which 47 artists, filmmakers, and artist groups from 30 countries address our homeland’s issues rather than their own. Let’s hope it not only casts light on how others perceive us, but opens our eyes to what’s going on elsewhere. Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow tackles Custer’s defeat; Bodys Isek Kingelez, from Kinshasa, envisions Lower Manhattan in A.D. 3021; and Pakistan-born Saira Wasim paints Moghul miniatures of Musharraf and Bush, for a start. OPENS THURSDAY, THROUGH OCTOBER 12, Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, 212-570-3633. (Levin)

ROZA EL HASSAN Using every available surface and the sidewalk outside, a rising art star from Budapest turns the Drawing Room into a fragile drawing in space—or a sketch for an installation. Called simply “Drawings,” it exudes tangled tendrils of hairy wire; pale, washy drawings; cut-paper bits; and markings directly on the wall and floor. It’s all so tentative, modest, and ephemeral that the sporadic peace signs, image of a dove with an olive branch, and huge pale word “human” sink in slowly: She’s not trying to tell us something, but setting a gentle example. A tiny, lumpy blue Buddha and a few scattered marbles add to the feeling of fragility. Hold your breath or the whole thing might vanish. THROUGH JULY 26, Drawing Room, 40 Wooster Street, 212-219-2166. (Levin)

DANCE

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM Too long missing from midtown, Arthur Mitchell’s gorgeous ensemble opens the Lincoln Center Festival, making its first appearance there. The opening-night bill, to be repeated July 12 and 13, includes the world premiere of St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet, with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, a book by Arna Bontemps and Countee Cullen, and choreography by the West Coast jester-in-residence Michael Smuin. The music’s live—Jonathan Tunick conducts the DTH Orchestra—and should help the heat of a Midwest summer penetrate even the air-conditioned precincts of this culture palace. Completing the first program is George Balanchine’s edgy neoclassical masterpiece, The Four Temperaments, to a score by Hindemith. TUESDAY AT 8, THROUGH JULY 13, New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street, 212-307-4100. (Zimmer)

‘2ND TAP REUNION’ A sort of curtain-raiser for the enormous international “Tap City” festival that begins next week (nyctapfestival.com), this one-night stand features tap virtuosos Roxane Butterfly, Derick Grant, and Max Pollak, plus special guests from the tap scene in Boston, accompanied by a live combo playing contemporary jazz. TUESDAY AT 8, 9, AND 10, Makor, 35 West 67th Street, 212-636-9584. (Zimmer)

FILM

‘LA COMMUNE (PARIS, 1871)’ Dynamic historical reconstruction in the form of an experimental documentary, Peter Watkins’s six-hour masterpiece is contagiously exciting. His visually spare, conceptually rich re-creation of a doomed political utopia proceeds, mainly in direct address, as characters explain their situation with astonishing conviction. Meant to evoke the sensation of revolutionary euphoria, this syncretic work of left-wing modernism is at once immediate and self-reflexive. Watkins restages history in its own ruins, uses the media as a frame, and still imbues his narrative with amazing presence. No less than the event it chronicles, La Commune is a triumph of spontaneous action. THURSDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, 212-505-5110. (Hoberman)

‘THE FREED UNIT AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MGM MUSICAL’ Possibly the most beloved cycle in Hollywood history, Arthur Freed’s two-decade string of hits began with The Wizard of Oz in 1939, peaked in the early ’50s—Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon—then fluffed out in 1958 with Gigi. Special events in this three-week tribute include an evening with actress-memoirist Betsy Blair and the 3-D Kiss Me Kate—not actually a Freed film, but so what? OPENS THURSDAY, THROUGH JULY 24, Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, 212-727-8110. (Hoberman)

‘STEPHEN FREARS’S ENGLAND’ It’s Frears the genre-bending master of Thatcher-era social clutter who’s celebrated in this mini-retro. Sammy and Rosie Get Laid can be found, along with Frears’s other Hanif Kureishi-scripted sexual comedy, My Beautiful Laundrette, and his adaptation of Prick Up Your Ears. More rarely screened: Frears’s 1971 noir parody, Gumshoe, and the anarchic telefilm Bloody Kids. OPENS SATURDAY, THROUGH JULY 14, American Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue and 36th Street, Queens, 718-784-0007. (Hoberman)

MUSIC

RYAN ADAMS The ambitiously prolific singer-songwriter graces I-always-love-you-though New York with a free, feel-good Fourth of July show. If you just can’t get enough of this rock-‘n’-blues-‘n’-folk roller, look for yet another new release before the year’s end. FRIDAY AT 4, the Lawn, Battery Park and State Street, 212-835-2789. (Havranek)

THE FALL 26 years into his sui generis career, cult hero Mark E. Smith remains the most distinctive poetry reader in rock, his mush-mouthed utterances more crabbed and furious all the time. He will, no doubt, futz with his latest pickup band’s equipment while they attempt to concentrate on the monolithic-riff end of the Fall repertoire, including lots of brand-new stuff. (That’s the new Mrs. Smith on keys.) Just remember: He’s played “Mr. Pharmacist” more than any other song! Sunday with the Rogers Sisters and Monday with El Guapo. SUNDAY AND MONDAY AT 8:30, Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, 212-219-3006. (Wolk)

SLIDE HAMPTON There’s something about a choir of trombones that often exceeds the sum of its parts, though when the parts are as distinguished as these, all bets are off. Hampton’s Trombone All-Stars, for which he is presumably chief arranger, includes Benny Powell and Steve Davis (a protégé of Jackie McLean), and marks a rare return to the city of Bob Brookmeyer, himself a great arranger and jazz’s leading valve trombonist, and Bill Watrous, a virtuoso of astonishing range. The rhythm section is also aces, piloted by drummer Dennis Mackrel. WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY AT 8 AND 10:30, Blue Note, 131 West 3rd Street, 212-475-8592. (Giddins)

JAY-Z+50 CENT+BUSTA RHYMES+MISSY+FABOLOUS If they can’t do it, homie, it can’t be done. With Jay-Z rocking the “feat” circuit from Baja to the Punjab, and 50 still pumpin’ in da club, it wouldn’t even matter that Busta’s top form, Missy’s workin’ it old-school, and Fabolous is well, fabulous. ‘Cept they are, making this a playa’s mansion blueprint of the hottest hip-hop under God’s dome. MONDAY AT 6:30, Jones Beach Theater, 1000 Ocean Parkway, Wantagh, Long Island, 516-307-7171. (Sinagra)

LAMB OF GOD+THE RED CHORD Forget about the retrod McTallica™ fest (see below)—tonight’s show is the real deal: Lamb of God’s As the Palaces Burns is the best metal record in years—a brutal, innovative update to the canon of heavy. Because they turned down a main-stage Ozzfest slot, it’s most advisable to catch them in a smaller club—soon they’ll dethrone Pantera as the next arena-sized alloy kings. The buzz is growing about the Red Chord, and it’s much deserved; they’re one of the best of the metal-core-meets-death-grind bands: insanely technical and manic, yet, like L.O.G., they deliver plenty of groove. With Nora and Byzantine. THURSDAY AT 5:30, Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, 212-219-3006. (Bosler)

METALLICA+LIMP BIZKIT+LINKIN PARK Bloated metal spectacle of the summer: headlining masters make nice with file sharers and pray to St. Anger that James Hetfield stays outta rehab; Fred Durst fights obscurity by claiming to have nookied every pop virgin-slut this side of Lizzie McGuire; and Linkin Park rap over monster chords about why you should try reallllly hard even though it won’t matter. TUESDAY AT 3, Giants Stadium, 50 Route 120, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 201-935-3900. (Sinagra)

ORCHESTRA BAOBAB Wasn’t sure what to expect, but after I caught them at Central Park last year, I quickly signed up for the next night at Joe’s Pub. Slow, deep, and mellow, they broke up both venues, playing up instrumental prowess outdoors, vocals indoors. But even the second night the stars were two veterans who don’t sing—serious guitar headman Barthelemy Attiso and clownish tenor man Issa Cissokho. A great band. Opening: world-salsa universalists Sierra Maestra. SUNDAY AT 3, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, mid-park, at 72nd Street, 212-360-CPSS; TUESDAY AT 8 AND 10:30, S.O.B.’s, 204 Varick Street, 212-243-4940. (Christgau)

PEARL JAM It’s telling that the one grand gesture these mere superstars made in the last decade was to release dozens of their live shows on disc. What other extant ’90s pop but Pearl Jam’s grunge-turned-bedrock emerged from that decade symbolizing authenticity? The band encountered their own post-millennial, transformative tragedy playing in Roskilde, and deliver truly compelling music only when picking through their way-back catalog onstage. Although they’ve long cultivated outsider status, Pearl Jam grew up like any other rockist Gen Xers. TUESDAY AT 7:30, THROUGH JULY 9, Madison Square Garden, 2 Penn Plaza, 212-307-7171. (Christgau)

OUMOU SANGARE+RAMITA DIAKITE Sangare remains the nearest thing to a feminist genius ever to arise in African popular music. Not only does she stand up for herself and her sisters, she bends Malian tradition to the message. Diakite is something like a genuine disciple, with an impressive debut album ready to stake her claim. WEDNESDAY AT 7, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, midpark, at 72nd Street, 212-360-CPSS. (Christgau)

DAVID S. WARE+HENRY GRIMES The doubleheader of the summer is only around for three days, so an early reservation is probably a good idea. Ware’s Quartet, which released one of the last year’s most impressive keepers, an interpretation of Sonny Rollins’s Freedom Suite, gets much of its power from a rhythm team as tight as a fist: Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Guillermo Brown. Grimes, who went from Rollins to Cecil Taylor to an absence of many decades, debuts his quintet with Roy Campbell and Rob Brown, having already shown at the Visions Festival that he’s lost none of the verve and technique that established him as one of the key bassists of the late ’50s and ’60s. TUESDAY AT 8 AND 10, THROUGH JULY 10, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, 212-582-2121. (Giddins)

PHOTO

JEAN-LUC MYLAYNE Mylayne stalks birds with a single-mindedness that might be alarming were the results—these big color photos of sparrows, wrens, and other backyard specimens in their natural habitats—any less understated or any less wonderful. Because the photographer usually allows his subjects to hide in plain sight, many of his pictures appear to be of gardens, patios, or some undistinguished patch of turned-up earth. Perched somewhere in all these shots is an alert little creature around which the image resolves, its seemingly incidental presence flooding the frame with unaccountable but barely suppressed joy. THROUGH AUGUST 15, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, 515 West 24th Street, 212-206-9300. (Aletti)

FRANK PAULIN Without overstating his case, Silverstein puts Paulin forward as an overlooked figure from the ’50s who is, at 77, still making pictures. It’s easy to see why the work slipped from notice; Paulin’s black-and-white photos of New York and Chicago street scenes pale in comparison to Ted Croner’s and Dan Weiner’s, much less Harry Callahan’s and Helen Levitt’s. But give them time. Many pictures here reward close attention with subtle bits of dramatic incident, a genuine sense of tenderness, or a kind of quiet restraint that’s rare in street work: the grimy grid of windows on an El platform, for instance, just above the chalked declaration I love you. THROUGH JULY 12, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, 504 West 22nd Street, 212-627-3930. (Aletti)

THEATER

‘THE FISHERMAN OF BEAUDRAIS’ In 1942-43, Ring Lardner Jr. and Dalton Trumbo collaborated on this saucy screenplay about a cheerful French no-good mistaken by gullible villagers for a Résistance hero. Its filming then was scuttled, first by wartime political caution—mustn’t make fun of our allies—and any later chance for its resuscitation was blocked when the authors were blacklisted as members of the Hollywood Ten. Firedrake Productions, dedicated to the blacklistees and their works, is belatedly redressing history’s omission with this stage adaptation, directed by Keith Oncale. OPENS THURSDAY, THROUGH JULY 20, Bank Street Theatre, 155 Bank Street, 212-868-4444. (Feingold)

‘FLESH AND BLOOD’ Michael Cunningham’s saga-novel about the generational travails of a Greek American family is the latest entry in NYTW’s ongoing scrutiny—a saga in itself—of our country’s evolving notions of family life. Directed by Doug Hughes, Peter Gaiten’s stage adaptation has a cast worthy of a saga, spangled with Obie winners, that includes Sean Dugan, Peter Frechette, Jessica Hecht, Cherry Jones, Chris McGarry, Martha Plimpton, Jeff Weiss, and the adapter himself. IN PREVIEWS, OPENS JULY 16, New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, 212-239-6200. (Feingold)

‘HENRY V’ The rain delayed things a little, but the New York Shakespeare Festival’s dogs of war have now been unleashed and are ready to cry “God for Harry, England, and Saint George” to lucky ticket holders. Iraq my brains over the choice of play, but Mark Wing-Davey’s direction and Liev Schreiber’s appearance as Henry should do something to heighten its interest. IN PREVIEWS, OPENS JULY 15, Delacorte Theatre, 81st Street and Central Park West, 212-539-8750. (Feingold)

WORDS

‘THE BIG NEW YORK MONEY-GRUBBING EVENT’ The journal Pindeldyboz presents the literary equivalent of a rent party, as editor Whitney Pastorek and former literary agent John Hodgman host an evening of readings (funnyman Ben Greenman and Siamese-twin-imagineer Darin Strauss), music (the 101 and Porteous), and auctions to cover the publishing costs of issue number four. Bid on a pile of stuff signed by Rick Moody, Dave Eggers’s painting of a bat, and as yet unknown objets from Zadie Smith and Jonathan Safran Foer. Most intriguing item on the block: a phone call with George Saunders, during which the Pastoralia author will listen to and offer a critique of your short story. Too bad they won’t do that one on the spot. MONDAY AT 7:45, Fez Under Time Café, 380 Lafayette Street, 212-533-7000. (De Krap)

OZ SHELACH Shelach’s debut, Picnic Grounds: A Novel in Fragments, is a mosaic of parable-like reportage, remaindered memories, and demotic prose poems written in summer 2000, during the journalist’s weekly trips between Jerusalem and the Dheisheh refugee camp. His metaphors unfold with an unsettling emotional restraint: “The sound of shots drifted into the classroom through the window. Beyond the narrow view, in the fold of the valley, our soldiers were mowing down protesters. Then the shiny crescent disappeared into the long shadow cast by the university tower.” WEDNESDAY AT 7:30, Barnes & Noble, 267 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-832-9074. (Reidy)

‘The World Trade Center was conceived by vested interests, promoted by pressure groups, brought into being by a handful of powerful men for reasons of monetary gain or personal pressure, and indirectly subsidized by the taxpayer’